Article
Reading Nearby: Literary Ethnography in a Postsocialist City
Matthew Rosen,
Corresponding Author
Matthew Rosen
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ohio University, Bentley Annex 162, Athens, OH, 45701
Search for more papers by this authorMatthew Rosen,
Corresponding Author
Matthew Rosen
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ohio University, Bentley Annex 162, Athens, OH, 45701
Search for more papers by this authorSummary
The solitary reader, sitting quietly surrounded by her thoughts, is a powerful image. But reading is also a deeply social practice. From learning to read to deciding what to read next, a significant amount of literate activity takes place within specific social relationships. Drawing from ethnographic research I conducted between 2015 and 2018, this essay shows how the act of co-reading has contributed to the emergence of a new literary community based in Tirana, Albania. The broader intention of the essay is to demonstrate the application of the general approach to literary anthropology I call reading nearby.
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